the Steven P.J. Wood Senior Fellow and Vice President for Research and Publications

Looking at the state of both parties after President Obama's health
bill win in the House, ABC's Terry Moran elevated the view of "prominent
conservative" David Frum, author a year ago of Newsweek's "Why Rush is
Wrong" cover story, who blamed Rush Limbaugh and Fox News for what
he's dubbed the GOP's "Waterloo." On Nightline, Moran contended "anger,
stoking it, expressing it, riding it...was the Republican strategy to
defeat health care. And over the weekend all that anger got ugly,
as some Democratic Members of Congress were called vile, racial and
anti-gay slurs."

But, he warned, "in the wake of the Democrats' victory, some
Republicans are not sure all that anger makes good politics," as if
Limbaugh and other conservative leaders advocated yelling the "slurs."
Moran relayed how "Frum says the real leadership of the Republican Party
during the course of the health care battle was not to be found in the
halls of Congress, but on the air waves" since "it was talk radio and
Fox News, Frum argues, that drove the GOP strategy." Moran
paraphrased Frum's take:

It sounds like you're saying that the Glenn Becks, Rush
Limbaughs, hijacked the Republican Party and drove it to a defeat?

Frum rued: "Republicans originally thought that Fox worked for us and
now we're discovering we work for Fox. The balance here has been
completely reversed and the thing that sustains a strong Fox network is
the thing that undermines a strong Republican Party."

On his FrumForum blog on Sunday, in a post
titled "Waterloo," Frum charged: "We followed the most radical
voices in the party and the movement, and they led us to abject and
irreversible defeat."

An excerpt from his tirade against talk radio and Limbaugh for making
it impossible for Republicans to make a deal with Democrats, as if
that's a bad thing, as Frum claimed Limbaugh really wants Republicans to
fail so he has more listeners and can sell more ads:

....There were leaders who knew better, who would have
liked to deal. But they were trapped. Conservative talkers on Fox and
talk radio had whipped the Republican voting base into such a frenzy
that deal-making was rendered impossible. How do you negotiate with
somebody who wants to murder your grandmother? Or - more exactly - with
somebody whom your voters have been persuaded to believe wants to murder
their grandmother?

I've been on a soapbox for months now about the harm that our
overheated talk is doing to us. Yes it mobilizes supporters - but by
mobilizing them with hysterical accusations and pseudo-information,
overheated talk has made it impossible for representatives to represent
and elected leaders to lead. The real leaders are on TV and radio, and
they have very different imperatives from people in government. Talk
radio thrives on confrontation and recrimination. When Rush Limbaugh
said that he wanted President Obama to fail, he was intelligently
explaining his own interests. What he omitted to say - but what is
equally true - is that he also wants Republicans to fail. If
Republicans succeed - if they govern successfully in office and
negotiate attractive compromises out of office - Rush's listeners get
less angry. And if they are less angry, they listen to the radio less,
and hear fewer ads for Sleepnumber beds.

So today's defeat for free-market economics and Republican values is a
huge win for the conservative entertainment industry. Their listeners
and viewers will now be even more enraged, even more frustrated, even
more disappointed in everybody except the responsibility-free talkers on
television and radio. For them, it's mission accomplished. For the
cause they purport to represent, it's Waterloo all right: ours.

From the Monday, March 22 Nightline on ABC:

TERRY MORAN: Today, the day
after, some key questions. Have the Democrats really got their mojo back
and seized the political momentum? Will President Obama and his party
pay a high price at the polls for passing health care? And what about
the Republicans? Did they overplay their hand? This morning, Senator
John McCain was predicting a backlash.

JOHN McCAIN, ON GMA: The American people are very angry, and they
don't like it and they're going to, we're going to try to repeal this
and we are going to have a very spirited campaign coming up between now
and November and there will be a very heavy price to pay for it.

MORAN: Anger stoking it, expressing it, riding it. That was the
Republican strategy to defeat health care. And over the weekend all that
anger got ugly, as some Democratic Members of Congress were called
vile, racial and anti-gay slurs and one was even spat upon by
protesters. But in the wake of the Democrats' victory, some Republicans
are not sure all that anger makes good politics.

DAVID FRUM: Nobody ever won an election by spitting at his political
opponents.

MORAN: David Frum is a former speechwriter for President George W.
Bush and a prominent conservative.

FRUM: The anger trapped the leadership. The leadership stoked the
anger and then discovered they had no maneuvering room as a result of
the anger.

MORAN: Frum says the real leadership of the Republican Party during
the course of the health care battle was not to be found in the halls of
Congress.

GLENN BECK, ON HIS TV SHOW: Down on health care.

MORAN: But on the air waves.

RUSH LIMBAUGH: We need to defeat these bastards.

MORAN: It was talk radio and Fox News, Frum argues, that drove the
GOP strategy.

MORAN, TO FRUM: It sounds like you're saying that the
Glenn Becks, Rush Limbaughs hijacked the Republican Party and drove it
to a defeat?

FRUM: Republicans originally thought that Fox worked for us and now
we're discovering we work for Fox. The balance here has been completely
reversed and the thing that sustains a strong Fox network is the thing
that undermines a strong Republican Party.

MORAN: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi didn't have much maneuvering
room, either, as she tried to keep her Democrats in line. Today she
looks like a big winner and in an interview with Diane Sawyer, she
reflected on the big moment....